The auto tranny in the 5th gen is prone to failure.
There was a design flaw that causes certain parts to overheat in some. Particularly if used for long periods at a time.

But with only 58000 made for the US, last one 13 years ago pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer.
If it's a prelude you must have and you are mechanicaly inclined or have some resources to swap in a 5 speed if need be...

Test drive it. If all is normal as in shifts good, no weird sounds etc and you want to take a chance.. sure why not?

Many are still on the road, particularly the 99-01 version. I see them all the time. But they are well cared for and used mainly for non interstate commuting.
Member Lazarky has over 200k miles on his autotragic

My 2001 SS has 189XXX clicks on it, and I have had no transmission issues, except for one I created unintentionally. I installed a 9,800 BTU in-line tranny cooler, and my transmission fluid would never get up to proper operating temperature after the summer was over, which caused it to shift slow the way it normally does during the first few minutes after a cold start.

After I uninstalled it, it went back to normal 100% and I haven't had any issues since (about 1000kms ago).

In the end, it boils down to: what sort of Prelude do you want? If you want a 5-speed, then keep looking. Yes, 5-speed swaps are possible, but there are enough Preludes out there that you're usually better off searching out one already built that way than going to the effort of converting one.

This may be your opinion. Speaking from experience from owning mine for the past 11 years, I say go for it. I have only had one issue with the tranny failing and it was not my fault. I went to have the tranny flushed and told the tech to use only 100% Honda ATF (auto tranny fluid) well they did not use it. # days later the cloche pads had dissolved to nothing but metal on metal. I told them they had to rebuild it for not following my demands. They pretty much told me to get bent. I said, OKAY you can talk to the BBB after I tell them what you did, after I told you what to do, and even had documented proof of what to use.

Short version, I did get it rebuilt, on their dime to a total, parts and labor $3176.44.

So with all that said, I would get another one in a heart beat, just make sure to keep up the proper maintenance, and you should not have any problems.

By the way, mine now has 217k on it. with about 95k on the rebuilt tranny.

^I owned an automatic. It was junk. I had nothing but problems with it. The driving experience sucked. It was slow, weak, and, didn't suit the type of driving the car was designed for. I took nothing but heat for being seen in it, even though I bought it with the intention of swapping it ASAP.

Having owned both, the prelude is definitely more fun and satisfying when you mix your own gears. There are some stories of automatics that have survived, but do you want to roll the dice and hope yours is one of the good ones? When I had mine I held my breath every time I got I to the car. Not a great way to live.

Your money...your funeral.

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Normal service has been resumed as soon as possible.

Honda Prelude name means just that..a 'prelude' to things to come. And they tried (to no avail) some F1 tech into the triptronic system. Like the atts, it was ahead of it's time and is used by other vehicles to this day.

But the parts getting over heated caused a much deserved un-realiability reputation. Accords suffered from the same issue. Odyssey's and Acuras are still plagued by a basic design flaw that in this guys opinion should have been solved by now.

Honda advanced a bunch of techno stuff with the prelude. But when America yawned (for various reasons) at the 4th and 5th gen, corparate decided to pull the plug on the Prelude.

I'd like to have an auto 5th in my herd someday. But it will likely have a Howard Engineering tranny, which was the go to by Honda for warranty replacements of the 01.

If it's maintained properly, it will last.
I've had mine since new, it's a 2000, runs fine.

You owned yours since new, presumably you "maintained it properly." If yes, that might be why it runs fine. If no, then perhaps you got lucky. Either way, your experience isn't applicable here because you're the sole owner of the car. The OP won't be.

The car the OP is looking at has had how many owners? How can anyone be sure it has been maintained properly? The seller's word? Are all of the service records intact and included with the car? Are the previous owners known to the OP?

Mine came with nothing. I didn't know any of the history when I bought it, other than what the salesman told me, which was it had only ever driven on Sundays, to and from church by an old lady. In reality, it had been through three owners, modded, stolen, recovered and, had at least one accident by the time I got it. So, it hadn't been babied since new.

Even though I bought it cheaper than an manual, so I could swap it, while I was collecting the parts, there was a huge question mark looming over the car. How much longer would the transmission last? Would it leave me stranded? Did I have enough time left to collect the parts for the swap? That was preying on my mind, even though I never intended to keep it automatic. I couldn't imagine living like that for an extended period of time. That is something the OP has to consider.

Being stranded, being without a car, having to fork over a lot of money to get back on the road. These are all things that face far more auto owners than manuals.

The transmission is a weak and flawed design. It's been covered thousands of times. Honda themselves admit it was a problem. Some people get lucky, a lot don't. Would I trust a 16 year old transmission that has a track record of problems, when the history of the car is unknown? Would I recommend someone invest in such a car? No. That is my advice to the OP. He can take it or leave it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacklud

As for the "fun factor" driving a 5sp, there's many cars out on the market that are fun to drive other then a Prelude.

There's many cars on the market that are more reliable than an automatic 5th gen Prelude too. Whats your point?

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Normal service has been resumed as soon as possible.

You owned yours since new, presumably you "maintained it properly." If yes, that might be why it runs fine. If no, then perhaps you got lucky. Either way, your experience isn't applicable here because you're the sole owner of the car. The OP won't be.

It's been maintained to my liking.

The car the OP is looking at has had how many owners? How can anyone be sure it has been maintained properly? The seller's word? Are all of the service records intact and included with the car? Are the previous owners known to the OP?

That's the chance you take when buying any used vehicle.

Mine came with nothing. I didn't know any of the history when I bought it, other than what the salesman told me, which was it had only ever driven on Sundays, to and from church by an old lady. In reality, it had been through three owners, modded, stolen, recovered and, had at least one accident by the time I got it. So, it hadn't been babied since new.

Salesman was a dishonest prick.

Even though I bought it cheaper than an manual, so I could swap it, while I was collecting the parts, there was a huge question mark looming over the car. How much longer would the transmission last? Would it leave me stranded? Did I have enough time left to collect the parts for the swap? That was preying on my mind, even though I never intended to keep it automatic. I couldn't imagine living like that for an extended period of time. That is something the OP has to consider.

You worry to much.

Being stranded, being without a car, having to fork over a lot of money to get back on the road. These are all things that face far more auto owners than manuals.

The transmission is a weak and flawed design. It's been covered thousands of times. Honda themselves admit it was a problem. Some people get lucky, a lot don't. Would I trust a 16 year old transmission that has a track record of problems, when the history of the car is unknown? Would I recommend someone invest in such a car? No. That is my advice to the OP. He can take it or leave it.

Investment?? I don't consider a car an investment, what are you dropping on the thing? a few thousand dollars. What's the big deal.

Here's the way I look at it:
you buy an Auto, you've got to worry about the tranny.
you buy a 5spd, you've got to worry about the previous owner(s) on whether they were hitting VTEC all day long, beating the crap out of the car.
I'd rather buy an Auto with a clean body then buying a 5spd thats showing obvious signs of "Honda Rust"

And the right corner wearing a smile is none other than S...I...R...S...speeeeec. (crowd noise)

(Rickety old like 97 year old former smoker ref voice)
Now gentlemen, no hitting below the belt.

Ding, Ding, Ding

ANNNND we lost the OP about 10 posts ago.......

While I would never own an Automatic Prelude myself...
(unless it was some crazy 9-10 sec drag car LOL)

the fact is Honda did have problems with those granny tranny Preludes as well as other cars.... But there are also hundreds of cars that did NOT have problems.

Also the car is going on 15 years old....you will have to except that some repairs might need to be made on it regardless...

With that said , IMO Honda did not design the Prelude to perform it's best as an automatic. Hence the SH ONLY coming manual... The manual was the performer.....They made the Auto's because some people can't/won't drive manual's and rather than lose sales they make both, most smart companies do this...
they added the Triptronic to wake it up a little and be able to keep the sporty image but it just wasn't the most reliable Tranny